Monday, October 7, 2013

Ink Washing Bones to Bring Out Details

Sorry to my regular readers, but I didn't get a figure finished this week. However, I thought I'd share a little on my efforts with using ink to bring out the details in the Bones figures.  As I have mentioned in past posts, I have been having a bit of trouble painting some of the Bones figures due to the large amount of detail on them, and the difficulty I was having in seeing this detail on the bright white figures under my bright painting light.
To help with this problem I thought I would experiment with applying a black ink wash over the figure in hopes it would shade the lines between details on the figure in an effort to make them more visible.  My first effort didn't work out so well, as the ink just pooled on the plastic figure. (See photo below)
I then remembered an old trick to help break the surface tension in inks and paints; which is to apply a tiny bit of dish soap to the liquid.  The soap helps the ink or paint to flow over the surface and prevents the beading and pooling I was getting.  So I added a tiny pin-head of dish soap to the ink I was applying, and had much better success. (See photo below)  This allowed the ink to flow into the recesses of the details, highlighting them nicely. Now painting the details will be much easier.
I will be continuing to work with this method on future figures.

7 comments:

  1. Obsidian3DOctober 7, 2013 at 12:32 PM

    I haven't tried it, but I've also been told that future floor wax will have a similar result.

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    1. Chris PalmerOctober 8, 2013 at 12:02 PM

      Yes, I've heard of that as well. Likewise, I've never tired it.

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    2. aka. Washu! ^O^October 19, 2013 at 8:25 AM

      I've tried it, but it's glossy. After painting, the gloss isn't as noticeable.

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  2. Chris PalmerOctober 8, 2013 at 12:04 PM

    This is the first time that I have tried using a preliminary ink wash, and I have yet to paint this figure, so I can't give you an answer yet. I am not anticipating any problems. Stay tuned to see the results. :)

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  3. aka. Washu! ^O^October 28, 2013 at 3:39 AM

    You can also undercoat the figure (in a light color?) and give it a wash. Since it's the same as washing paint, the wash doesn't bead. Not sure what color paint to use with miniatures that use flesh (maybe... flesh?) but lizardmen worked fine with tan, and orcs should work fine with light brown.

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  4. aka. Washu! ^O^December 22, 2013 at 2:42 AM

    I'm trying Les' Wash to thin out grey craft paint and gloop over Kaladrax as a first coat. It didn't have the beading like Quick Shade Ink did, and the white bones plastic shows through quite fine on the raised areas. I'm getting some Liquitex Inks in a few weeks, so hope to try this on smaller Bones figures! (:

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    1. Chris PalmerDecember 22, 2013 at 8:14 AM

      Good luck with the Liquitex. I've not not tried their inks before, so am curious how they work out.

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